The Treasure-Hunting Beast was very shrewd. He had already offended Xia Yi earlier, so currying favor with Gu Yue now was pointless.
Rather than that, it was better to act forcefully and leave an impression of being a loyal servant of the Dragon God in Gu Yue's mind.
He could tell that Da Ming and Er Ming cared deeply about Yuanen Yehui, and Xia Yi and Gu Yue wouldn't sacrifice her just for his sake.
He had already basically completed the parasitic bond with Yuanen Yehui. Given his understanding of Gu Yue, the Silver Dragon King, he didn't believe she had a way to hurt him without also hurting Yuanen Yehui.
Now, his only chance of survival was to hold his ground.
As long as Gu Yue relented, he would be safe.
But how could Gu Yue, someone of her stature, let a mere Treasure-Hunting Beast threaten her? She gave him a cold glance and said icily, "A mere parasite dares to threaten me? Aren't you overestimating yourself?"
Gu Yue turned to Xia Yi and said, "Use your Moon Gazing Palm to sever his connection with Yuanen Yehui. Leave the rest to me."
"Are you sure it won't go wrong?" Xia Yi asked. When he first saw Yuanen Yehui, he had wanted to try using his Moon Gazing Palm.
But he hadn't dared to gamble. If the severing failed and the Treasure-Hunting Beast panicked, it might drag Yuanen Yehui down with him.
"Don't worry. I know this parasite very well. The Moon Gazing Palm is more than enough to deal with him," Gu Yue sneered.
Eight soul rings slowly emerged around Xia Yi, and eight snow-white fox tails stretched out. As the eighth ring lit up, Xia Yi raised his hand and slapped the golden mist near Yuanen Yehui.
"Come out." The moment Xia Yi's soul ring lit up, Gu Yue moved. She reached out toward the top of Yuanen Yehui's head and grabbed. A wisp of golden mist was drawn out, clutched in Gu Yue's hand. It formed into a tiny humanoid figure, just over a foot tall. Its head was disproportionately large—half its body—its eyes were enormous and constantly darting around, and it had a pair of wind-catching ears that twitched constantly, giving it a very peculiar appearance.
If that were all, it might even be called cute—but it also had a pig's snout on its face, which made it look utterly bizarre, with a few yellow hairs fluttering atop its head.
"What is this power? Why did my parasitic link suddenly break?" The Treasure-Hunting Beast looked at Xia Yi in shock. His powers were tied to the Dragon God, yet Xia Yi had broken them so easily.
"You really think Xia Yi could become the sovereign of soul beasts—recognized by even me—without any skills of his own?" Gu Yue said coldly, "What else do you have to say?"
"Your Majesty, I was wrong! Please forgive me, I had no choice!" The Treasure-Hunting Beast instantly put on a sycophantic smile, his sudden change in attitude making everyone around twitch at the corners of their mouths.
"Save your fake pity," Gu Yue said coldly, tossing him to the ground. "That's not what you were saying just now. Didn't you say I wasn't qualified to be the soul beasts' co-ruler?"
The Treasure-Hunting Beast rolled twice on the ground, then quickly climbed up and said to Gu Yue, "The Dragon God is dead, the Golden Dragon King is a lunatic. Who else but you should be the co-ruler of soul beasts, Your Majesty?"
"Stop trying to butter me up. Tell me—how did you end up like this?" Gu Yue asked indifferently.
Hearing this, the Treasure-Hunting Beast's eyes dimmed. "Actually, during the Dragon God War, my race didn't suffer many casualties—at least not early on. Even in the final battle, while many died from the shockwaves, many also survived. But as Your Majesty knows, without the Dragon God's aura to nourish us, we can't survive. After the Dragon God's death, we lost our support. Many Treasure-Hunting Beasts perished because they could no longer absorb the Dragon God's aura."
Er Ming couldn't help but ask, "Then how are you still alive? It's been countless years since the Dragon God War. If your survival depends on the Dragon God's aura, how did you last this long?"
The Treasure-Hunting Beast replied proudly, "At my peak, I had power on par with a first-rank god. Over the years, I've kept a low profile, barely using my powers, carefully preserving the Dragon God's aura within me. I also consumed many spiritual herbs to maintain my energy. That's how I survived. I even transformed into a dormant object—sleeping for an extremely long time, so long I don't even know how long."
"No wonder you dared to steal the Emperor Auspice Beast's spiritual herb," Bi Ji said coldly.
"She wouldn't have died without that herb anyway. And besides, if she ate more, it would've only benefited the humans," the Treasure-Hunting Beast muttered. In order to survive, he had stolen many soul beasts' spiritual herbs. The one from the Emperor Auspice Beast was just a minor episode.
"You think you were justified in offending the Emperor Auspice Beast?" Bi Ji said grimly. Her voice held a touch of sorrow. The Emperor Auspice Beast's self-sacrifice was a permanent scar in the hearts of the soul beasts of the Star Dou Forest.
Even after ten thousand years, the thought of it still filled them with guilt.
If they had protected the Emperor Auspice Beast better, she wouldn't have needed to sacrifice herself.
"Not saying she should have died, but didn't the human she sacrificed for become a god? And not just any god—a top-ranked one. So why hasn't the Emperor Auspice Beast been revived, when the others have?" The Treasure-Hunting Beast glanced around, finally fixing his gaze on Da Ming and Er Ming.
"Say another word and I'll slap you to death," Bi Ji said coldly. Even she sounded sorrowful at this point.
The Emperor Auspice Beast sacrificed herself for Huo Yuhao, yet not even a soul spirit was formed.
They couldn't understand it—Huo Yuhao was the founder of soul spirits.
Before the Emperor Auspice Beast, Tianmeng, Xuedi, and Bingdi had all sacrificed themselves and became Huo Yuhao's soul spirits.
Even the Evil-Eyed Tyrant Master he killed eventually became his soul spirit—despite its soul being ground away during possession.
So why didn't the Emperor Auspice Beast become a soul spirit after voluntarily sacrificing herself?
And even if she didn't become a soul spirit, why didn't Huo Yuhao revive her after becoming a god?
Da Ming and Er Ming, who had sacrificed themselves before the concept of soul spirits even existed, were revived by Tang San after he became a god.
Why couldn't the Emperor Auspice Beast be revived?
Didn't Huo Yuhao say he loved her when he came to the Star Dou Forest?
Back then, he seemed to be truly sincere, shedding tears and speaking with heartfelt emotion—it didn't look like he was faking it.
If his feelings had been real, and he had such deep emotions for the Emperor Auspice Beast, even if a first-rank god couldn't revive a sacrificed soul beast, he should have asked another god king for help, right?
Wasn't Huo Yuhao affiliated with Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect? Wasn't he Tang San's son-in-law?
If Tang San could revive Da Ming and Er Ming, he certainly could've revived the Emperor Auspice Beast.
She had helped Huo Yuhao so much—if he had asked Tang San, there's no reason Tang San would have refused.
Surely a god king wouldn't be that petty?
So how did it end up like this?
This was a question the Star Dou Forest's beasts had pondered for ten thousand years, without ever finding an answer.
The Treasure-Hunting Beast bringing it up now was like rubbing salt in their wounds.
"Seems like you've been asleep most of the time, but you still know a lot about major soul beast events. Did you know Xia Yi's identity from the start?" Gu Yue suddenly asked.
"No, no, Your Majesty, you wrong me. I only learned those things the last time I awoke, a thousand years ago. Since soul beast territory kept shrinking, it took me longer to find the spiritual herbs I needed to survive, so I learned more over time. After eating enough in the Myriad Beasts Realm a thousand years ago, I turned myself into a soul bone and went dormant. I thought being a soul bone in the soul beast world would be safe—but today, I was suddenly absorbed by someone, and I was forced to awaken,"
the Treasure-Hunting Beast said quickly, his big ears flapping wildly. If Gu Yue found out he had offended Xia Yi on purpose, she'd skin him alive.
(End of chapter)